APNewsBreak: WEC moves into pay-per-view April 24

World Extreme Cagefighting will stage its first pay-per-view event April 24, scheduling a star-stacked card for its first attempt to persuade mixed martial arts fans to pay $44.99 for its fights.

Urijah Faber will meet featherweight champion Jose Aldo in the main event of WEC 48 from Sacramento, Calif., the lighter-weight MMA promotion's leaders told The Associated Press before Wednesday's announcement.

Former featherweight champion Mike Brown also will meet Manny Gamburyan at Arco Arena, and lightweight champion Ben Henderson will fight Donald Cerrone in a rematch of their acclaimed October bout.

After years of showcasing its product on Versus and online, the WEC is eager for its long-anticipated - and possibly treacherous - step into pay-per-view.

"We wanted to wait until we had this type of card to go to pay-per-view," WEC general manager Reed Harris told the AP. "We didn't want to do a pay-per-view show until fans would say at the end of the night, 'This was worth it.' This will truly be the biggest event we've ever done."

The WEC and industry-leading UFC are both owned by Zuffa, the company primarily behind MMA's surge into international popularity during the past decade. A few months after Zuffa bought the WEC in December 2006, the promotion reached a deal with Versus to show live events on the cable channel.

While the WEC doesn't have the UFC's widespread popularity, its December 2008 move to focus on lighter-weight fighters in its smaller octagonal cage has appealed to most MMA fans. The WEC now believes it's attractive enough to open those fans' wallets for the same price charged by the UFC for its major pay-per-view events.

"It's a natural progression," WEC vice president Peter Dropick said. "The WEC is growing, and going to pay-per-view is the next step. It's an important step from a business standpoint. We weren't just going to put a pay-per-view on. We wanted to make sure it was the right card and the right matchup. We've got the ability to put on one of the best cards we've ever done. The timing is right."

Pay-per-view is a staple of the UFC's business model, but other MMA promotions haven't been as successful charging fees for their product. Affliction, the clothing company which briefly emerged as a promotional rival to UFC, couldn't stay in business after just two pay-per-view shows.

Strikeforce, the steady Bay Area-based promotion which partners with heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko's M-1 Global, has expressed an interest in the pay-per-view business several times in recent years. But CEO Scott Coker hasn't jumped into that particular octagon just yet, preferring to focus on his showcases on CBS and Showtime.

The WEC scheduled its biggest event on a night with no conflicts with the UFC's schedule or competition from major boxing matches. The promotion plans to put together a preview show similar to the showcases that drum up interest in the UFC's big events, along with an extensive marketing plan.

Although Faber is considered the WEC's biggest star, the promotion hopes to showcase a large portion of its top talents before the pay-per-view crowd. Faber grew up in the Sacramento area, and his popularity in Northern California made Arco Arena the natural choice to host the event after enthusiastic crowds greeted each of the WEC's previous events there.

Aldo is the WEC's newest major player after his surprising stoppage of Brown to claim the featherweight title last November. Brown won that title by beating Faber in November 2008, and thought he also won their rematch last June, his next bout is against Gamburyan, a former UFC lightweight who has two victories since dropping down to featherweight last year.

Cerrone, the hard-living lightweight known as "Cowboy," is among the WEC's most popular fighters. He'll meet Henderson, who held off Cerrone for a thrilling unanimous decision in what was widely labeled the promotion's best fight of 2009.

If the card is as successful as Harris and Dropick expect it to be, the WEC expects to schedule more pay-per-view events. Yet the promotion still counts on Versus for most of its exposure and competition.

"I think we're destined to always be on free TV," Harris said. "This is just something where the timing is right to take the next step."